


Nested

by brookebond



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Christmas, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 10:42:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13075191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brookebond/pseuds/brookebond
Summary: Christmas with Eames is always full of surprises.





	Nested

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IAmANonnieMouse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmANonnieMouse/gifts).



> This is for IAmANonnieMouse whose prompt was: Nesting.  
> I hope I've hit the mark and given you something that relates to this! If not, terribly sorry darling. I hope you enjoy it anyway!
> 
> Thank you deinvati for looking over this and ensuring I haven't lost my mind entirely!

Everything was planned to the last detail, right down to the socks Eames was wearing. He hadn’t wanted to mess anything up though that fear still ate away at him as he sat, waiting for the doorbell to ring.

Any minute now.

Eames checked his watch: 4:35pm.

They’d said the package would arrive at four, no later. They’d promised Eames it would arrive no later. He was going to be peeved if they’d lost the package. It had cost him an arm and a leg and there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell he was ever going to get something so perfectly Arthur ever again.

“Did we order something?” Arthur called, breaking Eames from his reverie so he finally noticed the incessant knocking.

“Yes,” he replied, standing from the couch to shuffle to the door.

“It has my name on it,” Arthur said once the door was closed, the package standing fairly unassumingly in the front hall. Well, as unassuming as a box that could easily fit a human inside of could be.

Eames hummed, trying not to give too much away despite the excitement bubbling beneath his skin. He’d spent months planning this. He didn’t want to ruin it by saying the wrong thing.

“Did you get me a stripper?” Arthur asked, raising a brow. “Because if so, you forgot about the air holes.”

Eames snorted. “No, darling, I did not get you a stripper.”

The one thing he regretted was not decorating the boxes, making them more elaborate than just the stock-standard brown. Eames was a little nervous that the whole thing was going to flop on its face, Arthur giving up before getting to the treat in the centre.

He couldn’t stop the feeling that this was all suddenly a terrible mistake and it was all going to come crashing down around him.

“Can I open it?” Arthur asked, a box cutter in hand.

Eames gestured, waving a hand for Arthur to continue. He wasn’t sure his voice wouldn’t give him away and wasn’t willing to risk it.

Arthur clicked the knife open and pressed one hand on the box to hold it steady, slicing through the tape with clean precision.

“Last chance to tell me if there’s a stripper in here because I’m really not sure I’m able to cope with a dead body at this time of year,” Arthur said, hands poised to open the box but hesitating, waiting for Eames’ response.

“I swear on my mother’s grave, there is no dead stripper in there.” Eames crossed himself and winked at Arthur, ready for the process to start.

Arthur shook his head, cheeks dimpling, and opened the box, folding the sides down to make sure they stayed as he inspected the contents.

It was mostly full of styrofoam peanuts. Eames had had far too much fun pouring bag after bag of the things in to fill the space up. The post office workers had eyed him as he’d cackled in the midst of the process but it was completely worth it just for the look on Arthur’s face. His brows were pinched together, lips pursed as he dug through the peanuts, scooping them out of the box so he could find whatever was hidden within.

“What’s this?”

Eames swallowed hard, taking a step closer to Arthur. He knew what was in there but Eames wanted to gauge Arthur’s reaction. This first box set the tone for everything else. If it was a letdown, Eames would stop the whole thing before he could have his heart trodden on entirely.

“Is this?” Arthur asked, rubbing a finger around the edge of a casino chip. “You kept it?”

Eames nodded, shrugging as he tried to play it off as something that wasn’t overly sentimental. “Didn’t seem right not to. You did take me for all I had.”

“You were drunk.”

“You were very pretty.”

Arthur blushed, flipping the chip between his fingers twice before slipping it into his pocket. “Another box?” he asked, pulling it out and setting it on the floor.

This box was smaller than the first, more likely to hold a pet of some sort but Eames hoped Arthur wouldn’t ask that question because he wasn’t sure he could handle promising that nothing had been harmed in the making of the gift. Not since he had several cardboard cuts that proved otherwise.

Arthur didn’t wait for Eames’ permission before opening the second box.

“Eames,” Arthur sighed, sitting on the floor surrounded by styrofoam peanuts. “I thought I’d lost these.”

“Sorry, love,” Eames said, sitting next to Arthur. “It was for a greater good, I promise.”

“You are a dirty little thief.” Arthur punched him in the shoulder, the fingers of his other hand clasped tightly around the engraved cufflinks Eames had given Arthur for their first anniversary.

Eames couldn’t deny that, not in the slightest. He had rather enjoyed sneaking those from Arthur’s drawer without him noticing. To be honest, the hardest part had been not reacting when Arthur had been devastated by the loss. Eames had spent hours debating whether or not he should have put the cufflinks back but this trip down memory lane was going to be worth it in the end. Or so he hoped.

“I’m gonna stick everything in a lock box from here on out,” Arthur teased, putting the cufflinks on the floor next to him. 

“Fair call. There is more, though.” Eames was trying to play it cool, as though the whole thing was just a funny little tease he’d come up with. It was difficult, though. He wanted to skip to the end, wanted Arthur to tear through until he got to the centre and found what was waiting for him.

But that would spoil everything.

“You know you’re utterly ridiculous, right?” Arthur asked as he pulled out a third, smaller box that was roughly the size of Eames’ palm, opening it with the same precision as he’d done the previous two.

Eames figured the question didn’t warrant a response, not when he could watch Arthur’s face shift from teasing to nostalgic in two seconds flat.

Sitting on top of the peanuts, nestled in perfectly so it didn’t move, was the burgundy tie Arthur had given Eames for Christmas the year before. He had worn it so many times he’d lost count but the thing he remembered was the glint in Arthur’s eyes when he did. It was the same look Arthur was giving Eames right at that moment and Eames knew it had been the perfect thing to place in that final box, the one that held his entire future.

“I’m surprised you didn’t try to fit the strawberry lube in here.”

Eames laughed, Arthur breaking the tension that had been building inside of him. “There’s something else in there,” he said, barely resisting the urge to pull it out himself.

Arthur sucked his lower lip into his mouth, setting the tie down and digging into the box.

This was it. The moment of truth. The one thing Eames had been waiting for.

Arthur pulled the small crushed velvet box from the bed of styrofoam peanuts, fingers lightly gripping it as though he was terrified of breaking it if he held too tightly.

“I— You—” Arthur frowned at Eames, licking his lips. “Are you—?”

Eames nodded, his throat thick with words he wanted to say. He’d rehearsed the proposal in the mirror, turned the words over, even sent Arthur’s sister a copy of what he’d planned, but nothing seemed right. Not now.

Simple and straight to the point was what Eames needed now.

“Will you marry me?”

Arthur gripped the ring box tighter and launched himself at Eames. “Yes, you idiot,” he said, punctuating the words with kisses to his lips. “One hundred times yes.”


End file.
